Title: Sublime
Author/pseudonym: Villanelle
Fandom: Mutant X
Pairing: None
Rating: PG
Status: incomplete
Archive: Do not archive without telling me!
Author websites: www.villanelle.net/jesse

Spoilers: Slight spoilers for Times Squared, Sign From Above, and Power Play

Disclaimers: The world and characters of Mutant X is the property of Tribune Entertainment and other companies. This piece is for entertainment purposes only.

Notes: I've always wondered why Jesse is the only Mutant X team member to never have a real encounter with Gabriel Ashlocke. The rest have their reasons for hating him with a passion, but not Jesse. This is my attempt to explore Jesse's feelings regarding Gabriel. This fic is unbetaed and English is not my first language, so pardon any grammatical errors.

Summary: Jesse gives Gabriel the gift of immortality.

CHAPTER 1

Three bodies. A male security guard, face down on the very blood meant to keep him alive. A nameless woman. Green eyes as stark yet broken as stained glass, devoid of feeling. A man dressed in a white lab coat and pressed pants. Stretched on the floor, arms brought up to the sky like a prayer to an unknown God.

The floor; wet, slippery marble. Red poisoning white.

In the heart of it all, Gabriel Ashlocke. Palms spread. A bolt of electricity being born in between. A smirk forming on his lips.

A bolt of burning blue blinds you, and darkness chooses to swallow you before the pain eats you alive.

***************
Yesterday

It happened almost every night, and for this one, you were the first to hear Shalimar's screams. You were at her room in seconds. It took you awhile to find her but her room was so dark, and everything was astray, that you couldn't find her within the chaos. Finally, you remember how she was when Richard died, in times of grief and fear, Shalimar hid herself under the bed, away from the rest of the world.

And that was exactly where you find her, crouched, sweaty, shaking in fear. You reach out to her. "Shal," you whisper, calling out her name in a voice you hope would soothe her.

"He's here," she mutters, eyes stark, staring into space. "He's here."

A flash of red streaks into your eyesight for a moment, at the thought of him invading her mind again. You dislike seeing Shalimar like this, and most of all it disturbs you. Because she has always been so strong. And you have always been so weak. Yet here you are right now, crawling under the bed, coughing at the mercy of dust bunnies, and pulling her towards you. Comforting her. Telling her that no one will hurt her.

She is shaking. "He's here," she says again. "He's here."

You pull her closer, hoping your warmth will stop her from shaking. "No, he's not," you reassure her.

But I am.

*****************

"Wake up, Jesse."

You startle awake at the voice, deep and teasing. A low moan makes its way from your throat as you feel the pain joyously traversing all over your body. The cold marble beneath you stings your cheek and you realize you are lying facedown on the floor. You struggle to get up but your arm collapses beneath you. Instinctively you take a breath. Mass your arm and lift yourself up.

"Interesting. Maybe I should try that with my powers too."

You whirl around to the source of the voice. Gabriel smirks at you and for a moment you focus on this familiarity, your head pounding in pain at your attempts to reminisce the reason why you are here in the first place, in some unknown room in some unknown building, facing a man everyone you know fears.

Gabriel steps closer. "Except you," he tells you, his voice silky yet contorting, reminding you of the danger that lurks beneath. He reads the littlest of thoughts streaking into the blur that is now your mind, throwing them to your face. You wince at its clarity. "I never gave you a reason to."

"You're wrong," you manage to mutter. "I've always hated you."

He laughed. "What for, Jesse? Because Adam told you to?"

You snap at the mention of Adam's name. It was a short collection of words but Gabriel's intent hits you like a ton of bricks. "I don't do everything Adam tells me to. I don't' feel everything he wants me to feel, and I don't agree with everything he says." You clench your fist as Gabriel laughs again, the mockery starting to grill at the last bits of patience you have left. "What do you want with me?"

Gabriel cocked his head in your direction. "I should be asking you that question."

A smirk forms in your own lips, mimicking those that seemed permanently implanted to those of the man in front of you. "So read me and find out for yourself."

"I'd love to, but that would be too easy."

You look around, trying to remember. And then it hits you. Like a bullet. And you mass your personal shields just in time to protect you from it.

But it hits you anyway, drilling into you with an incessant need. The truth. You reach into your jacket. You remember how careful you were to choose one with huge pockets. And huge pockets you need. Your fingers reach inside, no need to search, as if it knows what it will find long before it touched it.

Blue liquid. Carefully wrapped in plastic. As blue as the light that caused you the darkness earlier.

You close your eyes, forcing yourself to remember more. You were updating the New Mutant database. You stumbled into Adam's personal files. The data was encrypted. Your fingers flew across the keyboard and in seconds you pushed the shields away. You smile for a moment at the memory. Of beating Adam. Of knowing more than him. That you were better than him.

Even for just a moment.

"That's the only ingredient I need to make a cure," Gabriel's voice pulls you from the memory of your personal victory. "And you came here to give it to me. In exchange for answers." He smirked again. "Answers I'm all but willing to give you."

You straighten up, head free from pain, mind clear and ready for whatever's coming next. "I want you to leave Shalimar alone."

For a moment, Gabriel's eyes blank out, and you know he was in her mind, invading it, destroying the fragile pedestal of power that made Shalimar what she is. A pedestal that you maintain by making yourself hers. A pedestal you need to keep strong, in fear of everything around you to crumble.

So in a second your fingers are on his arm and you are shaking him. "Stop it," you whisper. "Leave her alone."

He shakes you off and you wince in pain as your back bangs into a wall. "Shalimar's mine," he tells you, voice dripping in an emotion that you can only place as evil. "And since you're hers, you're mine too."

You straighten up, ignoring the pain. "I'm not yours," you whisper, your voice cracking. You must have broken your back from the impact.

"No, but I wish you were," Gabriel answers, what seemed to be a real wistful look ghosting into his face. "Really, Jesse, why do you waste your time with them?"

He doesn't mean what he's saying, does he? "Huh?"

In a split second he is next to you, his fingers grasping your hair and he lifts your head up. You cry out softly. Gabriel repeats his question, impatient. "Why are you wasting your potential in Mutant X?"

Because I don't have a choice."Because….Sanctuary is my home," you answer. You pull away from him. "Because the team cares for me and I'll probably never find that anywhere else. Seeing you hurt them is killing me inside and if there's one way for me to stop you I'll do it." Despite your fear, you look at him straight in the eye. "I'll do it."

"Even if you have to buy my immortality?"

"Yes."

"I don't believe that you don't have anywhere else to go."

Anger starts to boil inside you as Gabriel reads your mind again. "I don't care," you answer through gritted teeth. "Beyond Sanctuary and Mutant X, there's nothing the world can offer for me."

"You can make one."

Silence was your only response to Gabriel's unwelcome prodding. He lets out a sigh, plays with another electric bolt in his hand and you shudder as he suddenly frees it. "Fine. Have it your way."

You hand him the plastic container from your pocket. You almost turn away, but you couldn't. Gabriel controls your every movement. You feel the hairs at the back of your neck rise up in trepidation. This is a man, who at this very moment, is almost immortal, and for the team's salvation, you have given him perfection. You wait as he cocks his head to the side, thinking deeply. And then he speaks. "I never answered your question, Jesse."

"I never asked anything, " you answer testily.

He smiles and his fingers make their way to the side of your face. You gasp in surprise at the sudden intrusion of personal space, for no one has gotten this close to you, only Shalimar. You struggle to free yourself but Gabriel keeps you still.

"You want to know why I killed those people?" Gabriel whispers. His breath is hot against your face and you struggle vainly to get far away and at that moment it hits you just how powerful he really is. "Why I enjoy torturing Shalimar and the rest of your team? What real evil is?"

You let out a breath and mass. Massing gives you strength for a short period of time but not even this was enough to free yourself from Gabriel's grasp. It seemed like he held your every move. Gabriel is now angry, and he grabs you, shoves you into the wall, hard. "You want to know what real evil is, Jesse?" he whispers, his voice hard and raspy in your ears, his breath tickling your neck. "Well, its right there in your Sanctuary. Real evil is when you can hurt people without killing yourself regretting it."

And that was when he shoves you down, and the last thing you saw before darkness swallows you again was your blood staining the marble floor.

Yet this time, you didn't feel any pain.


End Chapter 1